Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Engadine

Far southern suburb to the west of the Royal National Park, which remained a rural and holiday place until subdivision for returned soldiers after the First World War. Early landowner Charles McAlister named it in the 1890s after the Engadine valley in Switzerland, which he thought it resembled.

-34.036059113382, 151.03850827117

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Engadine

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2008

First inhabited by the Tharawal people, the area later called Engadine was part of the village of Heathcote until bought by Charles McAlister and renamed Engadine after a valley in Switzerland. Subdivisions in the 1910s were offered to soldier settlers, and the construction of a railway platform brought more residents. The 1930s depression saw a large shanty town develop. After World War II, suburban development increased, bringing improved services.